Beckham Was Taunted With Baseball Bat, His Teammates Say

The clash between the Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. and the Panthers’ Josh Norman took on a new tack Monday when a video posted on the Giants’ Instagram account showed a Carolina practice squad player carrying a black baseball bat near the Giants’ sideline and motioning toward the Giants as they ran onto the field for pregame warm-ups.

Various Panthers players held the bat and taunted Beckham, according to two Giants players who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the situation. The players also said Beckham had to be separated by teammates from a group of Panthers players.

The Panthers had previously used bats for pregame motivation. The bats are said to be symbolic of home runs, or “taking the wood” to an opponent. But a Carolina spokesman denied that Beckham had been threatened.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B12 of the New York edition with the headline: Teammates Say Beckham Was Taunted With a Bat . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe